Once South Africa was removed from the UK’s irrational red list along with a number of other countries, it immediately resulted in an increase in searches for flights from South African travellers.
Picture: Flowcomm/ Flickr Commons
According to data released by Cheapflights, international flight searches rose by 31% in January 2022 when compared to December 2021. Most of these flight searches were for departure in January or February, revealing that South Africans are eager to travel as soon as restrictions are lifted.
This is a promising sign for the travel industry, where flights are just 1% lower when compared to January 2020, before the pandemic. The UK remains the most searched destination, with a departure in the next six months going up 32%.
The UAE rose by 25% and Turkey with an impressive 202% rise., especially when considering that Turkey only opened its borders to South Africans on 14 January. Other destinations that saw significant increases in flight searches were the United States (105%), Portugal (296%) and the Maldives (243%).
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